


Through The Years

by wendywrites



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1242790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendywrites/pseuds/wendywrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes. </p><p>This fic is a series of moments showing the friendship between Son Gohan and Trunks Briefs in their various incarnations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through The Years

As a gentle breeze ruffled her white blouse, Bulma Briefs stretched languidly in her comfortable lawn chair. She opened her eyes lazily and scanned the grass for her young son. Trunks was playing a game of catch with her mother, or at least he was attempting to. Although he was more physically developed than human babies his age, he was still less than a year old. Still, Bulma couldn't help but smile at the sight of Trunks leaning forward to grab the balls her mother gently tossed, missing, and pouting at his failure. _Like father, like son_ , she thought idly. 

"Bulma-san!"

She looked up to see the approaching form of the only other half Saiyan in the world.

"Ah, Gohan-kun! Is it noon already?" Bulma looked at her watch in shock. "The time really flew by," she mused to herself.

Gohan slowed his descent, before coming to a stop right in front of her. Surprisingly, the boy's hair was even longer than the last time she saw him. After the bowl-cut he had shown up with right before their trip to Namek, she figured Chichi wouldn't let it get so long and unruly. _Losing Son-kun for good must be affecting her even more than I thought..._

"Oh hello, Gohan-chan!" Her mother waved cheerily.

"Good afternoon!" he returned.

"Go-ha!" Trunks babbled excited. He pushed himself to his feet and began to walk unsteadily towards the older boy.

"Trunks-kun is walking!" Gohan beamed. Bulma had become somewhat used to the sight by now, but Gohan's excitement made her re-live the pride and joy she felt the first time she saw it happen.

"Go-ha!" Trunks grabbed the other boy by his leg. 

"Well done, Trunks-kun," Gohan applauded. Bulma watched as her baby preened at the praise. To Bulma's surprise, Trunks wiggled his chubby arms at the older boy, a signal that he wanted to be picked up and held; Gohan obliged.

"Oh wow, he's stubbornly refused to be carried around ever since he finally started to walk. He must really like you, Gohan-chan," her mother voiced the very thoughts she was having. Gohan giggled, looking a bit flustered. It struck Bulma then just how young he was. He had been fighting alongside fully-grown, battle wizened men ever since he was just a few years older than her own son; witnessing the deaths of her good friends; travelling through space to foreign planets to wish them back; and taking on some of the most powerful fighters in the universe.

"Bulma-san?" Bulma shook her head a bit and opened her eyes to see Gohan looking at her curiously, still holding Trunks; her mother was no longer outside. 

"Ah, I just got lost in thought. Well, I worried a bit about what kind of man Trunks will become, but if he's attached to you, then he'll definitely be alright. You hear that, Trunks? Make sure you grow up like Gohan-kun." Gohan bowed his head to hide his flushed cheeks while Trunks babbled what Bulma took to be agreement.

"Right, well with that settled, I'll have to ask you to wait for another hour or so for me to be finished with the studying device you came to pick up. I napped for a lot longer than I meant to, Bulma said sheepishly.

"That's alright, I'll just play with Trunks-kun until you're finished. Do you mind if I take him flying? He seems to really like that."

"Well...alright, just don't go too fast." 

"Come on, Trunks-kun." Gohan lifted into the air a bit, adjusting his hold on her son so that Gohan was holding him by his sides with his belly facing the ground. For a long moment, she stood by the door and watched as her son cried out in joy and spread his arms and legs wide as Gohan steadily took him higher. 

"Yeah, just stick with Gohan-kun and you'll be alright," she murmured to herself. 

~~~~

After hours of training - getting beat up really - Trunks Briefs let his battered body fall back to lie on the cool grass. Vaguely, he thought of the stains that he was rubbing into his clothes, but he was too exhausted to really care about something that trivial. If he didn't push himself get stronger, the artificial humans would kill him and he wouldn't have to worry about his clothes being stained ever again. As he was still catching his breath, his view of the stars was blocked and a light weight hit his stomach.

"Drink all the water, and make sure you stretch to prevent your muscles from going sore."

Sitting up, Trunks wiped the sweat from his face and neck and took a generous pull from his water bottle. He stood up and proceeded to go through his stretch routine.

"You always remind me to stretch, but how come I never see you do it, Gohan-san?" Trunks inquired.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't get worked up enough to require stretching after I fight you."

"So, I am holding you back..." Trunks looked down, dejected. As much as he wanted to put a stop to the destruction and death caused by the artificial humans, he still couldn't transform into a super saiyan, and now he was hobbling the only person who could possibly save the world. 

"It's okay, Trunks, I know exactly how you feel." Trunks looked up in surprise at his mentor. He couldn't imagine Gohan feeling weak and inadequate.

"Don't look so surprised, I wasn't born a super saiyan. You've heard about the enemies we fought in the past, right? My uncle, Nappa, Freeza and his men. From the very beginning, I felt like nothing but a weak, useless child who could only watch as the people he loved were killed in front of him."

Trunks could only gape in shock as he watched his mentor become lost in his own memories. As much as his mother loved to talk about the strength of their late fathers, Gohan's in particular, Trunks had always considered Gohan to be the strongest man in the world. Even though he wasn't able to defeat the androids yet, he had succeed where all the others had failed by living and getting stronger to try and fight another day. Logically, Trunks knew there must have been a time when Gohan had to learn everything he currently knew, but he was having difficulty picturing it.  
"Anyway, the point I'm making is that I've been there, and I'm telling you that beating yourself up about your weakness isn't productive; better to focus on your strengths." Gohan ruffled his hair with a smile.

"I'll do my best, Gohan-san."

"Good, now let's head back to Capsule Corporation for dinner."

"Um, Gohan-san?"

"Yes, Trunks?"

"I don't think I have the energy to fly all the way back home," Trunks stared at his boots, too embarrassed to look Gohan in the eye.

"Do you want me to fly you back?" Trunks nodded, ever more focused on the ground after hearing amusement in Gohan's voice.

"Alright, get on then." Trunks jumped onto Gohan's back, wrapping his arms around the other's neck and burying his face in his back. Trunks heard Gohan chuckle before he took to the skies. Through half-lidded eyes he watched as they passed over the moonlit landscape. Although they were a far way from bringing peace to the earth, Trunks couldn't remember feeling safer in his life. His eyes slipped closed.

~~~

"Are you all packed up and ready to go, Trunks-san?" Trunks blinked until his eyes re-focused. Right in front of him was the younger version of his late master, looking older than his eleven years in a formal suit.

"Ah, yes. I didn't bring much with me after all. I never thought this ordeal would last two weeks..." Trunks trailed off as he looked around the room that temporarily housed him. Like several other things, it was eerily similar to his room in his own time, yet also markedly different. He supposed that once he went back to his time, he wouldn't have to deal with that odd feeling anymore.

"It's too bad you can't stay any longer." The younger boy rubbed his hand across the back of his head and smiled a bit sadly. 

"I wouldn't mind stay here for a while longer, but everyday I stay is another day that the artificial humans are still at large in my time. Even if I set the time machine to go back on the day I left, their presence would still weigh heavily on my mind. And, of course, the Cell of my time would also need to be taken care of."

"I understand," Gohan nodded sagely, looking so wise above his years. Trunks was vaguely reminded of the man who was his everything. 

"The strange part is how nervous I feel. At this point, I could just about hold my own against Cell in his original perfect form, which is much stronger than I need to be to defeat both artificial humans and Cell in his imperfect form. And yet I feel so anxious about it."

"That's just what it feels like to have the fate of the world resting on your shoulders," Gohan said. Trunks supposed that he of all people would know. 

"I was stunned myself when I realised that my father expected me to defeat Cell. I spent weeks struggling to become a super saiyan, holding my father back in his own training all the while. Even after I finally achieved that, it felt like it wasn't enough. Like nothing I could do would ever be enough." Trunks was floored by this revelation. His own master had expressed similar insecurities about his strength, but somehow he didn't expect Gohan's past self to harbour them as well. 

"My father believed in my strength though and, ultimately, he was right. He was so right..." Gohan shook himself a bit.

"Anyway, it was his belief in me that gave me the confidence to beat Cell once and for all. So, as the current saviour of the earth, I'm confirming your ability to save your own world," Gohan said with a grin.

"Thank you...Gohan-san," Trunks said solemnly. His shoulders no longer felt so tense and he could breathe a bit easier. 

"And you don't have to be gone forever. Once you secure peace in your time, you should come back for a visit."

"Once the time machine is charged, I definitely will." Gohan held out his hand for Trunks to shake and Trunks took it. Trunks strapped his sword to his back and headed out of the room; Gohan followed him.

"I'll see you in three years. Thank you for everything, Gohan-san."

~~~

A bead of sweat threatened to roll her forehead, but Bulma Briefs paid it no mind as she worked on the device that would allow Gohan to play hero while hiding his identity. Fine tuning the device had taken her a bit more effort than she originally estimated, and she didn't want to keep her young friend waiting, so she poured all of her focus into getting it done. 

Finally, she leaned back in her chair and wiped her hand across her forehead. To ensure it was fully functional, she pressed a button on the modified watch and watched as a different set of clothes appeared on her body and a helmet covered her face. She pressed the button again and the outfit disappeared. 

"I've fixed up old spaceships, patched up broken androids and even made a time machine, and yet I have somehow managed to outdo myself. I should make some commercial models for people who run late and need a quick change of clothes in the mornings." Bulma stretched her arms above her head as she made her way down the halls of Capsule Corporation to deliver her gift to Gohan.

"...your special attack!" Bulma faintly heard the sound of her son's voice coming through the slightly open door of his room at the end of the hall. 

"Ka-me-ha-me-HA!" She stiffened but then relaxed as the only damage that she saw was that of a soft toy being thrown out the room and hitting the wall.

"Oh no! That was just a clone! The real Mega Death is coming right behind you!" 

"Ah! Trunks-kun, help!"

"I'm coming Gohan-kun! Hiya!" Bulma watched with amusement as a second toy was hurled out the room and joined the first on the floor.

"Now, to finish him off!"

"Right!"

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!" The two boys yelled in unison and Bulma jumped back as a gust of wind slammed the door wide open.

"Hooray! The day is saved, thanks to..."

"The Great Saiyamen!" Gohan finished with a flourish. "What? That's a cool name for us."

"Um, sure. Anyway, the day is saved!" Bulma watched as Trunks leaped up into Gohan's arms, cheering while he pumped his fist. The older boy joined in, just as loudly and enthusiastically. 

"You should really come by more often, Gohan-kun. You're not so bad for a teenager. A boy in my class has a brother your age and he says he's shit. " Gohan and Bulma both blinked in surprise at the eight year old's language. 

"You shouldn't say words like that," Gohan reprimanded the younger boy. The little boy's brow furrowed as he pouted.

"But I hear my dad and even my mom say it sometimes." Bulma gaped.

"Yes, well, they're adults and that's an adult word. When you get to be that old, then maybe you can say it too," Gohan reasoned.

"Well, okay," Trunks relented. As Gohan sighed in relief, Bulma made a note to question Vegeta about the things he says during their training sessions.

"You're a good kid, Trunks-kun." Gohan ruffled the other boy's hair and held tightly onto him as Trunks tried to wiggle away.

"I take it back! You suck, Gohan-kun!" Trunks grinned cheekily. Bulma crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as she watched them laugh and chase each other around the room.

 _Stick with Gohan-kun and you'll turn out just fine_ , she thought.


End file.
